1798 United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in Pennsylvania on October 9, 1798, for the 6th Congress.

Background

Thirteen Representatives (7 Democratic-Republicans and 6 Federalists) had been elected in 1796. One seat had changed from Federalist to Democratic-Republican in a special election in 1797. Two more seats, one held by a Democratic-Republican and one by a Federalist, had become vacant in August, 1798, and were still vacant at the time of the 1798 elections

Congressional districts

Pennsylvania was divided into 12 districts, one of which (the 4th) was a plural district, with 2 Representatives. These districts remained in use until redistricting after the census of 1800.

The 1st district consisted of the City of Philadelphia
The 2nd district consisted of Philadelphia County
The 3rd district consisted of Chester and Delaware Counties
The 4th district (2 seats) consisted of Montgomery, Bucks and Northampton Counties
The 5th district consisted of Berks and Luzerne County
The 6th district consisted of Northumberland and Dauphin Counties
The 7th district consisted of Lancaster County
The 8th district consisted of York County
The 9th district consisted of Mifflin and Cumberland County
The 10th district consisted of Bedford, Huntingdon and Franklin Counties
The 11th district consisted of Westmoreland and Fayette Counties
The 12th district consisted of Allegheny and Washington Counties

The counties that made up the 5th district did not border each other. That district was therefore made up of two separate pieces rather than being a single contiguous entity

Note: Many of these counties covered much larger areas than they do today, having since been divided into numerous counties. The boundaries of the districts are based on the counties' 1790 borders.

Election results

There were two vacancies and 11 incumbents at the time of the 1798 elections. The two vacancies were filled by special elections held at the same time as the general election. Blair McClenachan (DR) of the 2nd district and William Findley (DR) of the 11th district did not run for re-election. The remaining 9 incumbents (5 Democratic-Republicans and 4 Federalists) ran for re-election. 8 Democratic-Republicans and 5 Federalists were elected, a net increase of 1 seat for the Democratic-Republicans over the 1796 elections.

**1796 United States House election results**
District	Democratic-Republican			Federalist
1st	Samuel Miles	371	30.5%	Robert Waln^[1]	865	69.5%
2nd	Michael Leib	1,129	56.5%	Anthony Morris	870	43.5%
3rd	John Pearson	1,514	28.7%	Richard Thomas (I)	3,760	71.3%
4th 2 seats	Robert Brown^[1]	5,372	31.1%	John Chapman (I)	3,605	20.9%
	Peter Muhlenberg	4,935	28.6%	Jacob Eyerly	3,288	19.0%
				Anthony Morris	78	0.5%
5th	Joseph Hiester (I)	3,361	69.3%	Daniel Clymer	1,492	30.7%
6th	John A. Hanna (I)	3,052	66.3%	Daniel Smith	1,544	33.7%
7th	William Barton	407	22.5%	John W. Kittera (I)	1,403	77.5%
8th				Thomas Hartley (I)	3,857	85.4%
8th				Henry Slagle	659	14.6%
9th	Andrew Gregg (I)	2,618	57.8%	James Armstrong	1,912	42.2%
10th	David Bard (I)	935	20.3%	Henry Woods	2,546	55.4%
10th				Thomas Johnson	1,117	24.3%
11th	John Smilie	1,782	46.0%	William Todd	1,265	21.3%
11th				James Guthrie	826	21.3%
12th	Albert Gallatin (I)	3,926	58.8%	John Woods	2,750	41.2%
1st (special)	Samuel Miles	380	30.5%	Robert Waln	866	69.5%
4th (special)	Robert Brown	5,109	62.1%	Jacob Eyerly	3,120	37.9%

Special election

Thomas Hartley (F) of the 8th district died on December 21, 1800. A special election was held January 15, 1801 to fill the vacancy.

**1801 United States House election results**
District	Democratic-Republican			Other
8th	John Stewart	476	87.8%	Scattering	66	12.2%

Stewart had already been elected in the 1800 elections

References

Electoral data are from the Wilkes University Election Statistics Project

^ ^a ^b Also won special election in 5th Congress

[sp-1] Also won special election in 5th Congress

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